


years ago

by alephnull



Category: Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
Genre: Angst, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, background!olaf/esmé, ex-lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-28
Updated: 2017-02-28
Packaged: 2018-09-27 12:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10021343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alephnull/pseuds/alephnull
Summary: A fire is never truly out if you leave even the tiniest spark alive.





	

**Author's Note:**

> [read part 2](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9780920)
> 
> based off of tumblr prompt _kit x olaf + "you promised me you’d never talk to them again."_ [tumblr](https://kitsnxcket.tumblr.com/post/157827570641/kit-x-olaf-you-promised-me-youd-never-talk-to)

At the mention of the _other woman’s_  name, the smooth hand froze on its path towards the man’s cheek, and for a moment Olaf was afraid that she would strike him. Only she could make him fear being struck.

“Esmé?” she breathed, her voice deadly quiet.

“We hate each other. It’s just a mutual contract, Snicket.”

“ _Mutual contract_. I didn’t even know you knew those words,” the woman replied, her voice unwavering in its quiet ferocity.

“You learn a word or two when you’re forced to spend all your time with stupid fucking bookworms.”

Seemingly a lifetime ago, Olaf could have read Kit’s eyes and mouth and even the folds of her skin, deciphered her feelings like reading a manual on arson. Now he was confused, almost afraid of her retaliation. She had grown up, or perhaps it was Olaf who had.

Drawing her hand away, Kit turned around to sit on the table, leaving Olaf standing. He felt naked without Kit next to him. _You only just met after goodness knows how long, you lovesick fool._

“You promised me you’d never talk to her again,” she whispered after a long silence. Her voice was hardly there, and if Olaf had not been focusing so intently on the other person in the room, he might not have heard her voice.

“That was years ago,” Olaf replied calmly, silently adding _back when I cared. When we cared._

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know promises had expiry dates.”

“We’re both different people now, Snicket. You know what else I promised? I promised you forever. Forever by your side, forever protecting you from the world’s harsh ways. People say stupid things in youth.”

The silence stretched on yet again, so long that Olaf was about to tell Kit to _fuck off now_  when Kit spoke, softly, as if she would break something if she spoke too harshly.

“You see a child and they’re full of questions, optimism; they want to get a job, get married, have kids, be famous, be rich. Then you see an adult and it’s almost as if they’ve given up on life. A child and an adult are two different people. Why do we have to grow up? Why can’t we cling on to childhood?”

Meeting Kit’s eyes, Olaf replied steadily, “You’re a smart woman, Snicket. You can answer that for yourself. We can’t be together now. That was always foolish.”

As if a switch had been flicked, anger suddenly sparked in Kit’s deep, hazel eyes. For a moment Olaf did not react, simply admiring the beauty and expressiveness of Kit’s deep irises.

“I don’t _want_ to be together. You’re a wicked person, Olaf.”

“Am I? Why so?”

Kit stood up again, just about taller than Olaf with her heels.

“Don’t try to turn this on me and call me a shitty person. At least I _tried_  to do good, okay? You burn down buildings for fun. If you want to accuse me of arson, at least I’ve never done it for the fun of it.”

“Did I kill your parents?”

There was a pause then, as if Olaf had dealt a physical blow to Kit and she had to take a moment to be stunned, to absorb the shock.

“I didn’t kill your parents, Olaf. I didn’t even fucking know what I was doing that night.”

“Are poison darts typically used in heroic situations? I like to think that you’re more intelligent for those silly excuses to apply to you.”

“Stop it, Olaf. We’ve both done terrible things, okay? Happy?”

“Yes, Snicket, but at least my terrible deeds aren’t done disguised as heroism. At least I admit that I’m fucked up.”

“I’m not fucked up,” Kit replied shakily, although her voice did not show much conviction. “I just try to do what I can. It’s not me who’s fucked up. It’s the world.”

“Blaming everyone else for your own problems. Women are so predictable.”

At Olaf’s last comment, the inferno in Kit’s eyes blazed harder than before, contracted pupils meeting expressionless ones.

“I don’t want anything to do with you, okay? I never did. You were the one who made a move first and I was the one to break it off. Just leave me be,” she spat, turning towards the exit.

“That’s not what you were saying a few minutes ago,” Olaf muttered, eyes narrowed.

Eyes widening, Kit turned her head one last time.

“I’d slap you so hard if I wasn’t so against violence,” she snarled, storming out before she could hear the man’s next sentence.

Regardless, Olaf, still unmoving, chuckled. “Slapping me would be violence?”


End file.
